China Developing a Train That Will Run at 620 Miles Per Hour

[Chinaownseverything]

Get ready for some high speed transport action – Chinese researchers are currently developing a vacuum maglev train that they believe will run at speeds up to 620 miles per hour. This just a few years after Japan announced their — then totally awe inspiring — plans for a maglev train that would run at 310 mph. The train will run on magnetic levitation tracks built into vacuum tubes underground and will be sucked along at an average speed of almost 400 miles per hour. What’s the cost for this zippy technology, you ask? A mere $2.95 million more than the current high speed rail for each kilometer of track.

Maglev trains utilize a system of very large magnets to lift and propel train cars. The magnetic system is able to move at high speeds while being quieter and smoother than a traditional wheeled mass transit train. The current world record for speed on a maglev train is 361 miles per hour and was set in Japan in 2003. The Chinese plan to blow this record out of the water by coupling their maglev technology with underground tunnels that will act as vacuums.

The most common problem facing high speed transit is air friction that slows train cars down. The Chinese plan to eliminate this problem with their vacuum tunnels and say their trains will not have to compete with air friction while they travel. Researchers say that the trains could be ready for action in ten years. Though this high speed wonder seems like a great idea, the economic cost of the technology is staggering. With the added price tag of the vacuum tunnels to make these trains extra speedy, we’re wondering if the time saved traveling on these record breaking trains will really be worth the impact of their construction.

China Developing a Train That Will Run at 620 Miles Per Hour | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

 

[CardSharp]

Neat article

So the tunnels have to be constantly vacuum pumped and the cabins have to be pressurized like a space craft? and wouldn't you would need air locks to get in and out of the tunnel?

I can bet you that you are full of SH@@!!!

How does this concern you or India?

 

[Chinaownseverything]

China daily gives MAX speed as 600kp/h

China develops record-breaking 600kph maglev trains

China develops record-breaking 600kph maglev trains
By Quan Li (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-02 17:31

Maglev trains that reach a world record breaking speed of 600 kilometers per hour are being developed in China, the Beijing Times reported Monday.

The research, backed up by the theory of the vacuum magnetic suspension train, is being conducted by a state key laboratory research team of Southwest Jiaotong University, said the report. "The speed can be reached by making vacuum pipelines for maglev trains to run through, with no air resistance," said Shen Zhiyun, a member of the research team and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The new technology will use less steel than a normal train and is expected to be put into operation after ten years, says Zhang Yaoping, a member of the research team, adding that the application also depends on the decision of the Ministry of Railways.

Currently, the high speed trains connecting the cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan travel at an average speed of 350 kilometres an hour.

 

[jeypore]

Neat article

So the tunnels have to be constantly vacuum pumped and the cabins have to be pressurized like a space craft? and wouldn't you would need air locks to get in and out of the tunnel?




How does this concern you or India?

It does not, but when I see a BullSh**t then I love to comment:

When it comes to public transportation, lately, China’s been thinking outside of the box. Just three days ago, we reported about China’s intention on building gigantic 1200+ passenger super buses that other cars can actually drive under like tunnels. That’s plenty impressive, but buses aren’t exactly the speediest of vehicular contrivances. What about the man on the go?

China’s got a totally sci-fi solution to fast commuter travel planned too. What China intends on doing is rolling out a series of maglev trains capable of zooming along at upwards of one thousand kilometers per hour in the next two to three years. That’s twice what Japan’s maglev trains are capable of doing.

How’d China get such an overclock out of their locomotives? It’s actually pretty ingenious: they’re planning on throwing their maglev trains inside of sealed vacuum tubes, eliminating as much friction as possible and letting their trains shoot along at almost human-liquefying speeds.

Very cool, but also, very expensive: each kilometer of the railway will cost $3 million more than even a traditional mag lev train. Also, to borrow a joke from Engadget, there’s no telling how much making these trains time-travel-proof will cost: Doc Brown only needed to push his steampunk locomotive up to 88mph before he started prompting all sorts of time paradoxes.China plans vacuum-sealed maglev trains capable of going 1000kph ? Tech Products & Geek News | Geek.com

 

[Brotherhood]

I can bet you that you are full of SH@@!!!

Hey, would you mind spare us some space for discussing? your jealousy sh!t leaking out from your skirt is getting really annoying, may i suggest you a solution=get yourself a toilet like normal human being will do the trick.

 

[aimarraul]

if it's truly a vacuum magnetic suspension train,i think 600kph is the minimum speed

 

[chauism]

It does not, but when I see a BullSh**t then I love to comment:

How is that a bullsh*t though?

The cost is the problem, it means each 1000 Km, they need to spend $3 billion more.

Here is something from Rediff.

What's next? Speeds of 600 to 1,000 kph? Or more? At a seminar in December 2004, academic members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering discussed an idea that seems straight out of science fiction.

It's called the Evacuated Tube Transport, or ETT, and works like this: Instead of in the open, maglev tracks are enclosed in parallel tubes (one for each direction) from which all air is permanently pumped out (evacuated).

Pressurised passenger capsules, comparable to cabins of private business jets, hurtle through the tubes without any resistance, as if through space, at a minimum speed of 4,000 kph and using less than a tenth of the energy consumed by an aeroplane.

Crazy? Maybe to us, who think an 85 kph train is a Duranto. But the fact that ETT has already infiltrated the Chinese mind leaves no doubt about the direction they want to take and how far into the future they are prepared to look.

Trains at 4,000 kmph? It's possible with ETT! : Rediff.com Business

 

[Brotherhood]

Well, its more realistic than thread regarding some so-called "Star War" fiction weapons.

 

[whocares]

awesome speed. land travel at these speeds will junk air planes and eliminate dependence on oil

 

[chauism]

awesome speed. land travel at these speeds will junk air planes and eliminate dependence on oil

I can not wait for those to finish. I really really really hate flying.

 

[whocares]

I can not wait for those to finish. I really really really hate flying.

haha, ever wondered how those awesome airshow maneuvers feel inside the craft then
india isn't that big actually. normal maglev works just fine for us (4 hours max any city to another). but we don't have the money yet.

 

[chauism]

haha, ever wondered how those awesome airshow maneuvers feel inside the craft then
india isn't that big actually. normal maglev works just fine for us (4 hours max any city to another). but we don't have the money yet.

Actually I don't mind riding on those, because at least they have ejection seats and parachutes. It is the commercial airplane I don't feel comfortable with. Ironically, my major in college was aerospace engineering.

 

[CardSharp]

Actually I don't mind riding on those, because at least they have ejection seats and parachutes. It is the commercial airplane I don't feel comfortable with. Ironically, my major in college was aerospace engineering.

Then surely you've seen the safety rates for commercial airlines and know that ejection seats don't always save lives. lol

 

[whocares]

Actually I don't mind riding on those, because at least they have ejection seats and parachutes. It is the commercial airplane I don't feel comfortable with. Ironically, my major in college was aerospace engineering.

so you're worried about a crash all the time on a commercial airliner? i thought that people who hated flying hated the g forces.

 

[Machoman]

OMB this is awesome man, this is almost like plane now.